Blue Apron Review

In my current health quest, I am really working on how to eat healthier more regularly (and trying to save time while doing it). Blue Apron is my first attempt at eating healthier and I have had a few people ask about how I like it so far, so here is my "review".

The Basics

Blue Apron is a service where they deliver all ingredients (including meat/fish) for specific recipes to your door (for about $9.99 per meal).  When you sign-up, you can pick high-level preferences:  Poultry, Meat, Veg, Fish, Shellfish (if you have serious allergies, they don't advise using this service) - I selected all to be a bit adventurous. The food comes in insulated boxes (with 2 servings for each meal) with freezer packs one day during the week (you can choose that day). The box includes all meat, veg and easy-to-follow recipes.   The food can last for 7 days (although they advise to eat the fish first).    The only things I
have had to use for the recipes that Blue Apron has not provided is: Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper.
The quality of the food has been great.  The recipes are super tasty and unique - so you learn a lot about cooking.   The food is super-healthy (about 600 -700 cal per meal)  One thing worth noting is the packaging is a kind of big, but all of it can all be recycled/re-used - it does take up most of our recycle bin, though.


The logistics

We ordered for 4 people, so we get two boxes with 2 servings of each meal.  The ingredients are kept in little packages and labeled and the meat is vacuum packed to stay fresh longer.
The recipe cards have pictures and step-by step in instructions on how to clean/chop/prep for cooking (I found them to be a little wordier than I personally like, but it you can definitely follow the instructions.)
The prep is a lot more detailed than my typical meals.  For example, with every meal so far, I have had to zest something - oranges, limes, lemons (I have never done so much zesting) - all veggies have to be cleaned/pat dry/chopped.  You have to juice something and a few times I have had to heat up pine nuts/pecans for an accent on a salad.  Sometimes I wish it was chopped/prepped and all I had to do was cook - but that would make everything taste less fresh.
Generally, I have found the prep to take 20-40 minutes (maybe I am a slow chopper), and overall each meal takes about 45-1hr from start to finish.  The time around prep and cooking is one thing I wish were a bit easier.  The more you do it, the more you can find short cuts (just zest the lemon, instead of peel & zest, don't roast pine nuts, etc).

Example Meals:
Maple & Ginger Glazed Salmon:  One word: Delish!  This is by far my most favorite (Hubby, Au Pair & Kids agree).  So tasty - I made it twice :)

Seared Pork Medallions:  My Least favorite (although the chutney was tasty).  I am just not a fan of Freekah.

Catfish & Jicama Slaw:  My most "pleasantly surprised".  Amaranth is super tasty - who knew?! Also, some pan-fried catfish is yummy.  I think I really like the fish dishes...

My Verdict
I feel like the time commitment is more than I really want (1 hour at the kids most rowdy time), but the end result is delicious and healthy without any planning involved.   I feel like the cost is actually a wash for us between the time to figure out the recipes, make the shopping list an buying the food (which is already pricy in our area).  My final verdict:  the health factor is going to win-out here and we will continue, but I will need to figure out some modifications to help save on time:  I will have to either split up the cutting/cleaning prep with the actually cooking it is do-able or I leave this meal for adults after kids go to sleep.